Schirmer's infidelity revealed

Prosecutor: Affair, suicide brought pastor to attention of police

"Church gossip, bad behavior and bad science; that's what this case boils down to." So said attorney Brandon Reish, representing the former Jackson Township pastor who's on trial in Monroe County in his second wife's murder.

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By ANDREW SCOTT

poconorecord.com

By ANDREW SCOTT

Posted Jan. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By ANDREW SCOTT

Posted Jan. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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Day One summary

Tuesday: Testimony focused largely on how ambulance personnel removed Arthur and Betty Jean Schirmer on backboards from their vehicle after the crash that Arthur Schirmer claims gave his wife her f...

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Day One summary

Tuesday: Testimony focused largely on how ambulance personnel removed Arthur and Betty Jean Schirmer on backboards from their vehicle after the crash that Arthur Schirmer claims gave his wife her fatal bloody head injury.

The prosecution says the excessive amount of Betty Jean's blood found in the vehicle came not from the crash, but from Schirmer giving her the head injury prior to the crash.

The defense says ambulance personnel repositioning the bleeding Betty Jean on the backboard could have accidentally caused what appeared to be an excessive amount of blood.

Today: The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. with witness State Trooper Tom Slavin, who helped search the Schirmer residence for evidence as part of the investigation.

So said attorney Brandon Reish, representing the former Jackson Township pastor who's on trial in Monroe County in his second wife's murder and awaiting trial in Lebanon County in his first wife's murder.

"Don't let any of this blind you to the truth," Reish told the jury as the Monroe County trial opened Monday for former Reeders United Methodist Church pastor Arthur Schirmer, 64.

Schirmer is charged with giving his second wife, Betty Jean Schirmer, 56, a bloody fatal head injury and making it look like she got it in a car crash on the early morning of July 15, 2008, in Pocono Township.

Schirmer told police he was taking Betty Jean to the hospital that morning because she awoke complaining of jaw pain.

He said he was driving north on Route 715 toward Interstate 80 in Pocono Township when a deer came out into the road ahead of them. He said he swerved to avoid the deer, hit the guard rail and that Betty Jean, who wasn't belted in at that point, hit her head on the rearview mirror and windshield.

Central Pocono Ambulance paramedic Margo Warner testified she and her partner saw right away that Betty Jean needed to be flown to a hospital with a Level 1 trauma unit due to the severity of her head injury.

Warner said blood had dried and matted into Betty Jean's hair and that more blood was on the front of the passenger seat.

She described how she and her partner stabilized Betty Jean's head, repositioned her inside the vehicle to place her on a backboard and then moved her from the vehicle into the ambulance.

Warner said Schirmer appeared calm and uninjured.

Warner said Schirmer didn't ask how his wife was doing, though the defense said he had told passing motorists who stopped that his wife needed help.

Warner said she called Barrett Ambulance to see to Schirmer while she and her partner rushed Betty Jean to Pocono Medical Center to be flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where Betty Jean was pronounced dead the next day.

Warner said Schirmer mentioned that neither he nor Betty Jean had been seatbelted when they crashed, but Barrett Ambulance emergency medical technician John Hetler testified Schirmer told him he had been seatbelted.

Hetler said Schirmer showed very little emotion other than occasional "whimpers" that were almost sobs, and that he complained of pain in just his neck, right knee and right thigh. He said Schirmer didn't react at all when later told his wife was not doing well.

Hetler said he and his partner stabilized Schirmer's head, placed him on a backboard and took him via ambulance to the hospital, as Warner and her partner had done with Betty Jean.

Prior to witness testimony, First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso told the jury in his opening statement about the 1999 death of Schirmer's first wife, Jewel Schirmer, 50, in Lebanon County, where Arthur Schirmer was a pastor prior to coming to Reeders.

Like Betty Jean, Jewel was pronounced dead in the hospital a day after receiving a fatal head injury.

Schirmer said he came home from jogging to find Jewel lying at the bottom of the steps with her head in a pool of blood and a vacuum cleaner cord wrapped around her leg.

Authorities at the time found nothing suspicious about the death. Though Jewel's brother saw her body in the hospital and said it looked to him like she had been beaten, authorities called the cause of her death "undetermined."

Mancuso revealed previously unpublicized details about the suicide investigation that ultimately led to Schirmer being charged in both wives' deaths.

Reeders United Methodist Church member Joseph Musante, 50, fatally shot himself in the church office Oct. 29, 2008, more than three months after Betty Jean's death.

Police learned Musante's wife, Cynthia Musante, was Schirmer's office assistant and that she had been having "an emotional affair" with Schirmer since Betty Jean's death.

Cynthia Musante had been in a troubled marriage with an alcoholic while Schirmer had lost his wife, and so they began leaning on each other for emotional support, but this developed into an intimate affair, Mancuso said.

"Yes, this was bad behavior on the part of Mr. Schirmer and Mrs. Musante and, yes, what later resulted was tragic," Reish later told the jury. "However, I ask that you look at the complete picture once it's presented and not let church gossip, bad behavior and bad science lead you to unjustly convict Mr. Schirmer of murder."

When Joseph Musante learned about the affair and confronted his wife, she told him she loved Schirmer, Mancuso said. Musante then reported Schirmer's improprieties to the superintendent of the United Methodist Church district covering Monroe County.

Musante told Schirmer by phone Oct. 28, 2008, that he had reported Schirmer to the church district superintendent and that he was going to kill himself and the Musante children, who were ages 16 and 10 at the time.

Schirmer contacted Cynthia Musante and told her to get herself and the children away from Joseph, while Schirmer himself left the Reeders church parsonage he had shared with Betty Jean and checked into an Allentown motel.

Schirmer also contacted the church district superintendent and asked for a private meeting the next day, which turned out to be the day of Joseph Musante's suicide, Mancuso said.

After his death, Musante's sister told the church district superintendent in a Nov. 5, 2008, letter about Schirmer's negligence in refusing to report her brother's suicidal threats to police.

She said Schirmer was more concerned about his public image than her brother's well-being and asked the church to investigate him for any other negligent acts, which the church began doing.

Musante's sister then contacted police and told them she had learned about the questionable circumstances of Jewel Schirmer's death.

Police reopened their investigation into the crash Schirmer said caused Betty Jean's death, and Schirmer resigned as pastor when he learned he was being investigated.

Through a crash reconstruction, police found discrepancies about how fast Schirmer said the vehicle was going when it crashed.

Police also searched Schirmer's home and found dried blood drops with DNA matching that of Betty Jean's surviving relatives.

Schirmer said this blood came from him and Betty Jean getting cuts when a pile of wood they were moving out of their garage fell on them.

Police also learned through phone records from August 2008, a month after Betty Jean's death, that Schirmer had been in an affair with yet another woman, this one in Luzerne County, whom he had met years prior, Mancuso said.

The case was brought before a grand jury, which found enough evidence to recommend Schirmer be charged in Betty Jean's death.

This prompted Lebanon County authorities to reopen their investigation into Jewel Schirmer's death.

That investigation, which likewise went before a grand jury, revealed details about Schirmer's reported infidelities during his first marriage and financial problems that led him and Jewel to have separate bank accounts.